Water Supply and Scarcity

According to the United Nations, water scarcity is defined as the point at which the aggregate impact of all users impinges on the supply or quality of water. Water scarcity is a relative concept and can occur at any level of supply or demand. Scarcity may be socially-constructed or the consequence of altered supply patterns stemming from climate change. Resources available in this sub-theme include U.S. drought monitoring data, workshops for rural water supply systems, among other resources that support water supply and scarcity.

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Water Supply and Scarcity Resources

U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NSIDC offers hundreds of scientific data sets for research, focusing on the cryosphere and its interactions. Data are from satellites and field observations. The website also offers data analysis and imaging tools if you want to create a map projections.Read more

Managing to Avoid Crisis: a Look At Water Management Efforts in Rural Arizona

Published: 
September 18, 2014
Offers insight into how to effectively manage water resources in rural and urban areas of Arizona. While the Groundwater Management Act (GMA) provides a framework for active management areas, it does not address the need for rural areas of the state to develop and implement long-term water plans...Read more

How Water Management in Tucson, Arizona Has Affected the Desert's Landscape

Published: 
October 18, 2014
The National Institutes for Water Resources
Tuscan, Arizona has relied heavily on groundwater to supply its water needs. Over time, the pumping associated with residential, agricultural and industrial water use has outstripped nature's ability to replenish the underground aquifers. To reduce the overdraft of groundwater in the Tuscan...Read more
Regional focus: 
United StatesNorth America

Why the Groundwater Management Act?

Published: 
October 18, 2014
The National Institutes for Water Resources
Groundwater is being pumped from aquifers faster than it is able to be naturally replenished. The Groundwater Management Act (GMA) was established by the Arizona State legislature to regulate groundwater use and determine a safe yield goal for recharge of water and recovery.Read more
Regional focus: 
United StatesNorth America

Jordan: Complex Crises Fund (CCF) Mid-Cycle Portfolio Review (MPR)

Published: 
March 18, 2014
U.S. Agency for International Development
Responding to potential instability resulting from increasing populations of Syrian refugees in the Jordan's Northern Governorates of Irbid and Mafraq, USAID Jordan received $20 Million in resources from the Complex Crises Fund (CCF) to support Phase II implementation of the Community Based...Read more
Regional focus: 
JordanMiddle East and North Africa

Arizona Rural Water Issues Attracting Attention: What Is Best Plan for Managing Non-Active Management Areas?

Published: 
March 18, 2014
The National Institutes for Water Resources
Water management involves more than just the hydrological process. Successful water management should reflect the physical, social and cultural characteristics unique to the area. In Arizona, urban water affairs are recognized as a priority, however rural regions are often overlooked, which has...Read more
Regional focus: 
United StatesNorth America

Climate Change and Conflict in Africa and Latin America: Findings and Preliminary Lessons from Uganda, Ethiopia, and Peru; African and Latin American Resilience to Climate Change (ARCC)

Published: 
July 18, 2014
U.S. Agency for International Development
In 2007, the Fourth Annual Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that rising global temperatures would contribute to a steady upsurge in severe storms, floods, droughts, glacier melt, and sea level rise. Since then, extreme and erratic weather in much...Read more
Regional focus: 
Sub-Saharan Africa

Armenia - Water to Market Institutional Strengthening

Published: 
March 27, 2014
Millennium Challenge Corporation
The Water to Market Activity is divided into two subactivities, the Improved Profitability of Water User Association Members Subactivity and the Institutional Strengthening Subactivity. The Institutional Strengthening Subactivity (ISSA) provided general technical support to water user associations...Read more
Regional focus: 
Armenia

Tanzania - Water Sector Project

Published: 
April 11, 2014
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Social Impact (SI) is conducting an impact evaluation of the MCC Tanzania Water Sector Project. The impact of the WSP will be assessed through a rigorous, quasi-experimental impact evaluation design that combines a difference-in-differences (DD) approach with generalized propensity score matching (...Read more
Regional focus: 
Tanzania

Colorado River Basin Study

CH2M HILL
In 2010, Reclamation and the seven U.S. basin states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) commenced the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study to identify potential supply and demand imbalances facing the Colorado River basin over the next 50 years, as...Read more

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